More Oahu

The rest of our family Hawaii time was as blissful as the first half.

Nephew E chillin' with an ice cream as big as his face:

Niece E with her Uncle C:

The ever-present kite-surfers at Kailua beach and the state park in walking distance of our house:

My amazing dad, who at age 70 was out there boogie-boarding with the rest of us:

Sis K with her baby:

One day we took a short hike to a waterfall, guided by sweet (local) family friend N.

The most hilarious part of the hike was that niece E said she wanted to find the biggest walking stick she could carry, and I jokingly found her this beast...

...which she ended up carrying on the ENTIRE hike, mostly over her shoulder like she was some sort of lumberjack, even while she carried a smaller and more manageable walking stick to actually help her hike.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, and especially sweet since I've been at South Pole the past two Thanksgivings and am really happy to be back with my family for the holidays this year.

WAY too soon this time is over; I'm not sure any other 10 days of my life have ever gone as quickly as these past 10 did. Wish we could just start right over again with it all.

But, time to move on to the next part of the Great Thawing Out vacation. I'll be back soon with my next missive coming to you from a place completely new to me....

Hawaii redux

Four years ago, shortly before I left Denver to resume a vagabonding life, my family took a trip to Hawaii together that was so beautiful that for months afterward I got teary just thinking about it. Maybe because I must be one of the luckiest people on the planet, this Thanksgiving found us in the exact same rental house in Kailua (Oahu) that we stayed in four years ago. Family vacation Take II.

This is my sweetly chaotic reunion with the fam after more than a year on ice. It has been completely wonderful, even if I'm a little more prone right now to getting overwhelmed by so many people and so much going on all at once after all those months of relatively quiet predictability at Pole.

In some ways it feels like no time has passed since we were last here together. But then I look at the kiddos and realize how different things are now with them. Four years past--and having 6-to-12 year-olds as part of our crew, which is fundamentally different than being on a trip with a troupe of 2-to-8 year-olds--makes for a new experience, for sure. So still sweet, though. And getting focused time with my brother and his wife (a way-too rare occurence) is always special, and seeing the familiar family dynamics in action, and, and, and--

Anyway, some shots from the first half of our time here....

The first thing the kids wanted to do as soon as we got to the house, even though dusk was falling:

Niece R is loving repeatedly marveling at how hopelessly pale I am, and we took this pic on day one as a "guess who's been at the South Pole for the past year" joke. In my defense, my sister (on the left) is also very fair. I guess not as ghostly white as I am at the moment, though neither of us will ever have the gift of turning instantly golden brown as R (second from left) did the moment we got here. Oh, and this picture apparently proves that I (next down the line) have chicken legs, to boot. Oh, well. (For the record, I HAVE gotten SOME color since this picture was taken.)

Nephew E's trip so far: Play in sand till covered head to toe. Jump in ocean to rinse. Repeat.

One night we all went into Honolulu for Chinese food and a U of Hawaii women's volleyball match (against U of Santa Barbara), which is obviously THE thing to do around here.

But then everyone got right back into the ocean.

Or in trees.

Or sand.

And the adults who are not senior citizens (or suffering from an unfortunately timed sprained ankle--sorry, bro-in-law!) took a surfing lesson in Haleiwa.

Okay. Enough for now. One more Hawaii post to come, as the days continue to fly by WAY too fast.

Lava loops

Jamming two busy days into one long, final Hawai'i post. The Hilo side of Hawai'i is volcano land! So after a visit to idyllic Onomea Bay, we creeped closer to the moonscapes with a visit to Lava Tree National Park. The lava crust around trees that burned away long ago was very cool, but the trees shading the park were actually my favorite part.

Then we headed to the coast for the real thing: tide pools enclosed by black basalt, black sand beaches, walks over black lava rock, everything black and emanating great heat from grabbed sunshine. We were even able to see the smoke and gases from the only current flow of lava from Kilauea Volcano that reaches the ocean, from a cooled flow (less than two years old) that covered the 1990 flow that buried basically the entire town of Kalapana...though some Robinson Crusoe types have stubbornly rebuilt new homes on their land. (How did they know which land was theirs, though?)

The next day: our last in Hawai'i. I didn't actually cry but it's possible I wanted to. It was a great last day, though. Spent it in Volcano with Peace Corps Morocco friends who live there who I hadn't seen in a decade. Between paying attention to them, their adorable kids, and the volcano (Kilauea) that was first in the background and then a pretty obvious feature of our hike through the crater.

Couldn't have asked for a better day, or a better two weeks of vacation. Lucky my mom was there or I might not have gotten on that plane....

Big Island, big everything

Last island for this trip: the Big Island, where everything is big. 

There are big volcanoes (here, a view of Mauna Kea from the road that climbs Mauna Loa)...

...big tastes (like this passionfruit)...

...big valleys, like beautiful Waipio Valley, which we descended on the sole, 25-degree-grade road to the valley floor for a tour by horseback...

...and, finally (for the day, at least), big falls. I didn't get a good picture of the staggering Hi'ilawe Falls into Waipio Valley because there was so much haze down there. But on the way back to Hilo, we also stopped to see 'Akaka Falls, pictured here.

Not bad for one day!

Island adventures

There are so many adventure tours available on Kaua'i, I couldn't resist signing us up for a couple of them during our time here. One day, we went to Kipu ranch (where a lot of movies requiring tropical island scenery have been shot) for a day of kayaking, hiking, zip-lining, and jumping into freshwater swimming holes.

The next day, we took a beautiful bike ride from Waimea Canyon ("the Grand Canyon of the Pacific") downhill 12 miles to the coast.

I am especially entranced with all the views we've gotten, from the southwest side of Kaua'i, of the island of Ni'ihau, 17 miles away. I remember having to memorize Ni'ihau as one of the main seven Hawai'ian islands in social studies class in elementary school. But I didn't know until this trip that Ni'ihau is entirely privately owned, is not open to tourists in any way, and is home only to about 200 native Hawai'ians who are preserving a traditional Hawai'ian culture and way of life there.

I'm totally fascinated and I think all of the questions I've been asking about it (and especially about if/how uninvited guests have made attempts to visit, simply because it is forbidden) have my mom and the locals nervous that I'm planning to go rouge. I'm not, really. I'm just captivated and will continue to stare from afar and ponder all my questions about this land across the channel until I'm dragged away by our Hawai'ian Airlines flight to Hilo. Next stop: The Big Island!

Na'pali coast

Kaua'i time! A lot of our activity here has been focused on the famous Na'pali coast--the lush, rugged western coast of the island that is known both for its extreme beauty as well as its inaccessibility, with no roads running along the miles of steep cliffs where they meet the ocean. First, we approached from the north, hiking the first two miles of the Kalalau Trail (which takes the most adventurous hikers 11 miles south along the coast, a trip of several days, to roughly the half-way point of the remote coastline...which I will have to come back for someday!). The views were g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. and afterward, we got to bury our tired but happy feet in the sand and enjoy the sunset from the beach at Ha'ena State Park.

The next day, we attacked from the south. Though attacked is really the wrong word, as I was cowed in amazement at what is probably the most vast, hauntingly beautiful beach I've ever seen, at Polihale State Park. This is also on the list of places to return to for a repeat, longer visit next time I can get to this part of the world.

Finally, on the third day, we climbed the road past Waimea Canyon (more on that in the next post) into Kohe'e State Park to look down on the central part of the coast (the Kalalau Valley) from above 5,000 feet. By that point, I'd exhausted my mom with 10 days of hiking and water sports so she went back to the car to nap after checking out the view, while I hiked for another mile or so along the mountain ridge along a hilariously steep, muddy, slippery path, the likes of which I haven't seen since Madagascar. So worth it for the unbelievable vistas, though.